DHARWAD: President of the Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha Patil Puttappa has said that the Maharashtra’s Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister should stop acting “childishly” with regard to the boundary dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, the veteran journalist said that nowhere in the country villages had been considered as units for finalising State borders.

“Maharashtra leaders have been saying that they have approached the Supreme Court on the boundary row. However, it should be noted that the Supreme Court has no power to either change the name of a State or its border. Only Parliament can take a decision in this regard after an elaborate debate,” he said.

Dr. Puttappa was critical of the statements of the Maharashtra’s Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister. Both had been accusing Karnataka of harassing Marathi-speaking people. Since five decades similar allegations were being made, he said.

Dr. Puttappa said though there were many Kannadigas in Guddapur, Sollapur, Jatta, Akkalkote, Kannada schools there were being closed down. In Mandruf of Sollapur, though 85 per cent of the population were speaking Kannada, there was no Kannada school there. Kannada schools in Mumbai were also being closed down. However, there were four Marathi schools at Ellur in Belgaum district of Karnataka, he added. The Karnataka Government had been liberal in its approach as a result there were Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam schools in Bangalore. There were some Kannada schools in Andhra Pradesh. However, there was no Kannada school in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, he said.

Dr. Puttappa was critical of the way in which activists of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike had taken up the cause of Kannada.